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| Tummy Tuck: About the Procedure |
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During abdominoplasty, the surgeon removes excess fat and skin from your middle and lower abdomen and, if necessary, tightens the muscles of the abdominal wall. The operation takes two to five hours, depending on how much tissue is removed and whether the abdominal muscles are repaired.
Tummy tucks are usually done in the hospital under general anesthesia. An outpatient setting may be appropriate only if the abdominal muscles do not need repair.
If your plastic surgeon proposes to operate in an office-based operating room (OR), make sure he or she has privileges to do tummy tucks in a hospital. Also ask whether the office OR is licensed, Medicare-certified, or accredited by one of the following organizations:
- American Association of Accreditation of Ambulatory Surgery Facilities (AAAASF)
- Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care (AAAHC)
- Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO)
- American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS)Not all states license office ORs. Voluntary certification or accreditation suggests, among other things, that the facility measures up to a variety of patient-safety standards.
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